Does Tony Thompson Deserve Another Title Shot?
One right hand was all it took for Wladmir Klitschko to end Tony Thompson’s dreams of a heavyweight title. Klitschko had struggled to handle his former sparring partner when the two met in Hamburg, Germany for Klitschko’s IBF and WBO heavyweight titles on July 12, 2008. Klitschko had been cut early in the fight and hand struggled to find the range for his jab. While Thompson was behind the first heading into the 11th round, he had shown enough to suggest that he still had a shot at winning via an unlikely knockout.
However, it was Thompson who would end the fight staring at the ceiling lights. Klitschko landed a thunderous right hand square to Thompson’s head which silenced the growing chorus of boos coming from a crowd which was becoming bored with the fight. Thompson stayed down and couldn’t beat referee Joe Cortez’s count, bringing a pedestrian fight to a rapid and startling conclusion.
While the fight came to an ignoble end for Thompson, he had given Klitschko one of his toughest fights during his current five-year run as champion. Thompson actually landed more punches than Klitschko, including several punches early in the fight which appeared to get Klitschko’s attention. Even though he was knocked out, Thompson had put in a better than expected performance as a big underdog. There was no reason to think that Thompson wouldn’t be getting another title shot in the near future.
It’s been two years since Thompson fought Klitschko and yet a second title shot has yet to materialize. In fact, Thompson’s career has been stuck in neutral since losing to Klitschko. His last bout was against club fighter Owen Beck in April in Memphis and he earned an easy fourth round TKO. He was scheduled to fight fringe contender Friday Ahunanya on the undercard to Andre Ward’s victory over Allan Green on June 19 but the fight was cancelled when Ahunanya pulled out at the last minute because of an injury.
Despite being known as one of the nicer guys in the sport, Thompson has been getting increasingly angry with his lack of ability to secure major fights. He recently engaged in a war of words with former champion James Toney after he accused Toney of “running away to UFC” rather than facing him. Toney responded that a $25,000 payday for the fight was laughable for a boxer of his stature.
Toney is not the only boxer who Thompson has targeted in recent months. He’s also been vocal that he would like fights against the likes of Chris Arreola and Fres Oquendo. A win against both boxers would certainly help Thompson make a case for another title shot. However, neither fighter has seemed interested in taking on a fight against Thompson in the near future.
Why would other contenders (not to mention current champions) duck Thompson? For one thing, he is a left-handed boxer in a division full of orthodox fighters – there are only four southpaw fighters listing with the top 25 of the division as ranked by leading boxing website BoxRec.com. Fighting a southpaw can be a difficult proposition for any fighter. Thompson bout against Klitschko was proof of this – Klitschko is as skilled and experienced as any heavyweight in the sport but even he struggled to figure out how to handle Thompson.
Thompson’s style is also awkward and based on lots of close fighting. It’s not a boxing style that is incredibly attractive and doesn’t lead to opponents looking particularly great. It’s a bad combination – especially right now as interest in the heavyweight division wanes and top boxers want opponents who will let them look great. Until Thompson is able to put on exciting fights, he might have trouble securing major opponents.
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